FINANCIAL PAST NEW OPPONENT FOR CANDIDATE

While Commissioner George Myles pursues votes in his bid on Tuesday for mayor, two parties are pursuing him for $16,500.

One is a law firm seeking $12,235 in fees for work it did for a company Myles once headed. The other is a company demanding $4,276 after repossessing Myles' car.

Myles, 49, disputes the debts, which he did not list on his January financial disclosure form. He said he doesn't consider them liabilities.

"Personally, I don't think I owe those," he said on Monday.

A Miami-Dade County judge didn't see it that way.

On Oct. 21, Judge Roger Silver ruled that Myles owes a Miami law firm $12,235. Fieldstone Lester & Shear filed a lawsuit on March 24 seeking $8,260 and interest from Myles and one of his now-inactive businesses, New World Entertainment Corp.

According to the lawsuit, Myles and New World Entertainment retained the law firm but failed to pay the bill. The money has been due since Dec. 31, 1995.

Robert Cooper, the attorney representing the firm, said he has not heard from Myles in months. Myles said New World Entertainment hired the firm to find investors for a Blockbuster Video franchise he was involved in with Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Carlton Moore.

"I did not derive any income from it," Myles said. "Carlton Moore did own the store. The debt should be New World Entertainment's. Moore was the owner at the end."

It was Myles who signed the retainer guaranteeing payment of attorneys' fees, Cooper said.

Myles was once president, director and treasurer of New World Entertainment, which is inactive, according to state corporate records. Moore has been listed as the president since June 1995.

When asked about the debt, Moore said, "I know nothing about what you're speaking about."

Myles said it is all a misunderstanding.

"We'll need to get that clarified," he said on Monday. "We're going to continue to fight that. I'm appealing the judge's decision." He has not filed an appeal or hired an attorney.

Myles also has been sued by Affiliated Financial Corp. for $4,276 the company said was not recovered after it repossessed Myles' 1992 Mercury Grand Marquis a year ago. "That's being contested," Myles said. "I expect it will be thrown out."

The two cases are not Myles' first problems with personal finances.

Gov. Lawton Chiles suspended Myles from his Lauderhill commission seat in April 1995 after he was arrested on charges of grand theft and obtaining property with a worthless document. Myles, who was leasing a club at the time, had written a guitarist a bad check for $5,000 after a performance.

As a first-time offender, Myles was eligible for a pretrial intervention program, and the case was dismissed. He was reinstated to office in September 1995. He successfully completed the intervention program on Aug. 22, 1996.

"I think the suspension was a good growing experience," Myles said recently. "I had too many operations going. I got in trouble. I admit I made some mistakes."

In June 1994, he filed for personal bankruptcy under Chapter 13. The case was converted to Chapter 7. In filing for Chapter 13, a person usually works out a plan to pay creditors some or all the money owed. If the repayment plan fails, the filer normally has to convert to Chapter 7, which is straight bankruptcy and usually leads to liquidation of assets.

The judge's ruling on June 6, 1995, absolved Myles from paying $200,000 to a host of creditors, including the Internal Revenue Service, Broward Schools Credit Union and his former employer, Sears Roebuck and Co.

Myles is a front-runner in the Lauderhill election and has received endorsements from various groups, most notably the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale.

If elected mayor, Myles would be on a five-member commission that oversees a $49.5 million budget.